Found an inexpensive but impressive playback-only USB interface

[mesaone]

The headphone jack on my laptop malfunctioned awhile back, and it never became an issue enough for me to get fixed because I have a RME Babyface that I can travel with.

But I needed a way to use non-bluetooth headphones on flights. So I shopped around a bit, I wanted something high-enough quality but inexpensive, because I'm not doing any critical work like mixing and recording on the plane. Maybe some editing, but that's about it.

I recently bought a device called DACport Slim. It's a small USB 2.0 audio interface, about the size of a large flash drive. Supports 16 and 24 bit, up to 192 kHz.

It's got a respectable headphone output, and nothing more. Decent ASIO driver. The quality is miles above any built-in headphone output I've used. And to my pleasant surprise, it works wonderfully with Pro Tools. If you need a small interface with nothing but a single headphone out, then you should definitely check this one out. Looks like the Slim version (not the more expensive HD version) is only sold on MassDrop. I don't like the site, but I like the product.

[Jay_uk]

interesting..thanks.
review of it here at
http://www.head-fi.org/t/778966/revi...-dac-amp-combo

looks like that drop has ended though.
https://www.massdrop.com/buy/centran...ode=guest_open

[VRW]

Has anyone heard this one yet? Seems to be nice but it´s not inexpensive at all unfortunately.
On the other hand Apogee always have had great converters, maybe it´s worth it? Curious!

http://www.apogeedigital.com/products/groove
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Groove

[mesaone]

Originally Posted by VRW

Has anyone heard this one yet? Seems to be nice but it´s not inexpensive at all unfortunately.
On the other hand Apogee always have had great converters, maybe it´s worth it? Curious!

http://www.apogeedigital.com/products/groove
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Groove

I've been wanting to try, just never got my hands on one.

BTW, the Apogee page shows a guy hanging out in first class with a pair of HD598 headphones. Open-backed cans are a really bad choice for a plane.

[VRW]

Originally Posted by mesaone

Open-backed cans are a really bad choice for a plane.